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Executive Summary
As the new home of NCPIRG's environmental work,
Environment North Carolina can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.
Despite progress over the last 35 years, air
pollution remains a major public health and
environmental problem. States hold the primary
responsibility for improving air quality, since the
federal government establishes air quality
standards and requires states to meet them.
California, however, has unique authority under
federal law to adopt emission standards for cars,
trucks, and most other mobile sources of air
pollution that are more protective than federal
emission standards; subsequently, other states
have the right to choose between implementing
federal emission standards or the more stringent
California ones. In addition to offering states a
critical tool to reduce air pollution, California’s
emission standards also have spurred stronger
federal emission standards that benefit all
Americans, filled gaps left in federal protections,
and served as a backstop against the weakening
of federal protections. Unfortunately, states’ ability to protect their citizens from air pollution
faces an unprecedented threat from industry
groups and their allies in Congress and the Bush
administration.
More than half—52 percent—of all Americans
live in areas with unsafe levels of either groundlevel
ozone (“smog”) or particle pollution (“soot”).
Mobile sources—including cars and trucks, as
well as non-road engines (such as those in
recreational vehicles, farm and construction
machinery, lawn and garden equipment, marine
vessels, and locomotives)—are the largest source
nationwide of smog-forming pollutants and
major contributors to soot pollution. These
pollutants exacerbate or even cause asthma,
heart and lung disease, and premature death. In
addition, mobile sources such as cars and SUVs
release one-third of the nation’s emissions of
carbon dioxide, the leading global warming
pollutant, and are the largest source of cancer-causing
toxic emissions such as benzene.
The Clean Air Act sets federal air quality
standards but requires the states do much of the
work to implement them. For many states,
federal programs to reduce pollution from power
plants, cars and trucks, and other sources are not
enough to meet these standards. As a result,
states are often at the forefront of developing
and testing novel policies to address local air
quality problems.
Only California, however, has the authority
under the Clean Air Act to enact emission
standards for mobile sources that are more
stringent than federal standards, given the
state’s pioneering work to clean up tailpipe
emissions and its severe air pollution problems.
Fortunately, the Clean Air Act also allows other
states with polluted areas to adopt California’s
emission standards in lieu of federal standards,
giving states a powerful tool to protect public
health.
This statutory authority to adopt California’s
standards for mobile sources is a critical tool for
several reasons:
• For 40 years, federal emission standards for
mobile sources have been based on or
substantially informed by California’s
pioneering standards, such that California’s
actions serve to benefit the entire nation. For
example, California’s “low emission vehicle” (LEV) program gave rise to national
standards for tailpipe emissions, which have
helped improve air quality across the
country.
• States with entrenched or unique air
pollution problems not solved by federal
standards can adopt policies proven to
reduce pollution in California. Fifteen states
have opted in to at least one of California’s
more protective emission standards; these
states, plus California, are home to 142 million Americans, or almost half of the
population.
• State vehicle emission policies also can serve
as a backstop to discourage federal
policymakers from rolling back national
standards and fill any gaps left in federal
protections. For example, California’s
standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks and
buses fill a two-year gap in federal
standards that allow manufacturers to sell
more polluting engines; 12 states and the
District of Columbia have adopted this
California standard.
Automakers, engine manufacturers, oil
companies, and other industry groups have long
challenged the right of California to adopt
stronger emission standards as well as other
states’ authority to opt in to those standards. In
January 2004, industry was successful in
weakening states’ ability to protect their
residents from mobile sources of air pollution for
the first time in the Clean Air Act’s 35-year
history. The law now prohibits states from opting
in to California’s more protective emission
standards for small and mid-sized spark-ignition
engines, such as those used in lawn and garden
equipment, forklifts, and recreational boats.
Industry groups have said next they will try to
eliminate states’ mobile source authority
altogether.
These efforts to limit states’ rights threaten to
weaken the federal-state partnership that has
helped reduce air pollution from mobile sources
for the last three decades. The federal Clean Air
Act sets a minimum standard for air quality that
all Americans have the right to enjoy. But not
all states’ air pollution problems are the same;
therefore, not all solutions are going to be the
same. Giving states the right to go above and
beyond federal requirements—without hitting
an artificial ceiling—is essential for many areas
to attain the goals set out by the Clean Air Act.
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